The Worst Enemy (6)
“Hah.”
I had definitely swung to cut him down. The tip of the Hancheol Sword still shimmered with razor-sharp sword energy, and the mana gathered at my fingertips was more than enough to make it happen. But the sound that slammed into my ears wasn’t the clean ring of a blade slicing through flesh.
—BAAAAAM!!!
“—Kweeeek!!!”
It wasn’t the crisp sensation of something being severed. It felt more like smacking a home run with a baseball bat—that heavy, dull thud. I had no idea what those scales were made of, but I never expected my Hancheol Sword, packed full of sword energy, to fail to pierce them.
“—Kwoooooar!!!”
The dragon, head snapped to the side, glared at me with one eye and twisted its entire body. In an instant, my vision was filled by its massive tail. It seemed to have learned its lesson after getting counterattacked while trying to suppress the orcs with its wings; it had given up on wing attacks entirely.
“Damn it!”
But the real problem right now was that I had no way to dodge the incoming strike. I’d been fully committed to landing a decisive blow to its neck, so I hadn’t spared a single thought for what might come after. That carelessness was about to cost me.
—KUUUUUUUUNG!!!
“W-watch out!!!”
“I know that!”
A roar that couldn’t possibly come from a swinging tail slammed into my ears. Right after, the rabbit’s scream cut through the air. I poured every ounce of mana I had into my hands and thrust them toward the incoming tail.
Quick Comprehension (B) has activated.
Chilling Shield (B) has activated.
The air froze solid, and a thick wall of ice formed in front of me. Because I hadn’t held back on the mana, the barrier finished forming before the tail could reach me. The dragon’s attack smashed straight into it.
But the tail—covered in the same scales I couldn’t pierce—was far harder than I’d imagined. The moment it made contact, the heavy block of ice shattered. The tail filled my entire vision, and everything went dark.
—CRAAAAAASH!!!
—JJEONG!!!
“Ugh…!”
Right before impact, I instinctively kicked off the ice fragments floating in the air. Thanks to the quick leap, the blow only grazed me—but even that graze felt like a fatal strike because of how heavy the attack was.
—THUD!!!
My body plummeted and tumbled helplessly across the half-frozen dirt. Seeing the rabbit sprinting toward me in a panic, I used the rebound to force myself back onto my feet.
“Hey! Are you okay?!”
“Ptooey…!”
“Whoa! Th-that’s blood!!!”
“You’re making me dizzy. Stop panicking.”
I spat out a mouthful of hot blood that had risen from my stomach. Luckily, it didn’t feel like anything was broken, but my insides were twisted up badly enough to make my gut burn.
“This isn’t going to be easy.”
The obese dragon had finally pulled itself completely free of the ice. Its body shimmered, covered in brilliant blue scales. If I’d seen something like that in a museum or art gallery, I would’ve stared for hours. But knowing that monster was fighting me right now left a sour taste in my mouth.
Still, if I’d been the type to give up, I never would’ve picked this reckless fight in the first place. The main reason I’d saved that orc from certain death was the thought that if the monsters were going to take its life anyway, I might as well claim it myself and build my Status.
“L-let’s run! This looks way too dangerous…”
“No.”
It was the first time I’d seen the rabbit this tense since we reached the fifth floor. I couldn’t blame her. The opponent was more than worthy of that fear. This wasn’t some half-baked spider monster or anything remotely human. It was a mythical beast radiating overwhelming majesty. Charging straight at it might very well be insane.
But.
“That thing’s exhausted.”
“…Huh?”
“Look over there.”
I pointed at the creature, which was now hunched over. Its wings were completely folded. That meant it had decided to use the wings it had been attacking with as a shield to protect its body instead.
“Ever since it started fighting the orcs, there’s been one spot it’s been obsessively guarding. There’s probably a reverse scale somewhere around the front of its neck.”
The rabbit stared at the dragon with a dumbfounded expression. A monster on the same level as a Helper who had once worked as one. It must have been shocking for her that someone like me—whose Status was clearly inferior to a player’s—would calmly analyze the fight and plan to hunt it.
Super Recovery Potion has been fully absorbed.
The effects of the Super Recovery Potion will no longer be maintained.
“Let’s go again.”
My internal injuries had mostly healed, and my mana wasn’t critically low. I sheathed the Hancheol Sword, pulled out the plain sword I’d been using all along, and took out a single red gem.
The scorching heat that flowed from the gem into my fingertips slowly seeped into my brain and began transforming my mana. The surface of my sword started shedding ash as if it had been scorched by flames. The ground beneath my feet rapidly lost moisture, and the affected area spread outward.
Using them back-to-back is starting to take a toll.
The Heart of Frost and Breath of Fire were originally traps designed to erode a player’s mind and turn them into monsters. Mental fatigue was only natural. Even so, I couldn’t afford to hold back the most effective card I had in this situation. My creed had always been to do my absolute best while still leaving an escape route.
“Huuuup.”
When I inhaled, the cold air filled my lungs. Of course, the air warmed instantly inside me and came back out carrying fire, but the refreshing sensation wasn’t bad at all.
“—Kroaaaaar……”
I looked up at the dragon. It roared once more and glared at me. But unlike before, something felt slightly off.
“Doesn’t its voice sound a little weaker?”
“Yeah, it does.”
Ever since it had noticed my change, the dragon had been acting strangely flustered. I couldn’t read a reptile’s face perfectly, but right now it looked like it was sweating bullets.
“…It can’t be, right?”
“I think that ‘can’t be’ is exactly what’s happening……”
The same thought flashed through both my mind and the rabbit’s at the same time.
“No way. No matter how dangerous the situation is, how could a dragon be scared of a human who’s barely the size of its claw?”
No matter how I looked at it, the creature seemed completely intimidated. It kept sneaking glances away from my eyes, clearly terrified of me.
Damn it.
Crescendo was in a state of total panic as it stared at the two tiny humans in front of it. Never in its wildest dreams had it imagined that a mere human—especially just one of them—could make it feel this threatened.
At first, it hadn’t thought much of the small figure darting around slaughtering orcs. It was the same principle as how people might avoid an insect out of disgust but would never lose a one-on-one fight to the death against one. Crescendo had felt a little nervous, but it had been confident it wouldn’t lose.
But after observing the human’s movements, Crescendo realized it needed to revise that assessment.
At first it had thought of the creature as nothing more than an annoying predatory bug, like a cricket. But its movements were closer to those of a giant hornet. And when it used that strange magic to freeze the entire lake, the thought that something had gone horribly wrong completely dominated its mind.
Hng, I’m scared…
While it was struggling against the orcs, that human had driven them all away with a single mana explosion. The moment the lake froze, Crescendo’s own feet had frozen with it, and it had desperately struggled to pull them free.
And then—
—TAAAAANG!!!
“Kroaaaaaaaack!!!”
It couldn’t help but scream in terror when the human suddenly appeared right in front of its nose. Just moments ago it had been on the ground. Yet with a single leap, the human had reached the center of the lake where Crescendo stood. For a creature that had only ever fought slow, dull orcs, the shock was immense.
Kyaaaaaaaack!
The bigger problem was that this same human was now mercilessly swinging a terrifying sword straight at its neck. Crescendo instinctively hunched its body and tucked its chin tight against its throat.
—BAAAAAAM!!!
“Kweeeek!”
It hurt so much that it couldn’t even tell whether it was lucky or unlucky. The human’s sword, which should have struck its neck, had hit its face instead. And because the attack had been infused with a massive amount of cold-attribute mana, the scales had somehow managed to block a strike that would have sent chills down its spine.
Looking back, it had been incredibly lucky to survive. But there was no time to think about that.
“Kwooooock!!!”
It rubbed its numb cheek and stamped its feet to keep from falling. But one foot was still stuck in the ice, and that caused it to tilt dangerously.
Whoa…
The staggering Crescendo flailed desperately to avoid collapsing. During the struggle, it felt an unknown impact at the tip of its tail, but the important thing was that in one second it would slam face-first into the frozen lake floor hard enough to break its nose.
I-I have to run…!
After getting slapped across the cheek, it finally understood. That human was on a completely different level from any bug. The pride of a dragon—no, a blue wyvern—had been discarded long ago. The pragmatic creature immediately raised its head to threaten the human, then planned to escape into the lake.
But then—
“Kro…!”
An energy completely opposite to before surged from the front. Scorching mana that felt like it could burn the entire world poured out, and its source was the same human that had just slapped it across the face.
“Aaaaa……?”
It was terrified. So terrified that its brain had shut down. Every bit of ice touching the human’s feet melted instantly. The resulting liquid turned to steam in the blink of an eye and scattered into the air.
This is the worst. Even if I run into the water…
If that monstrous human followed, the entire lake could be incinerated. Fighting was guaranteed defeat. But it didn’t seem like the human would just let it escape if it tried to run.
And so the imugi that had almost become a wyvern, and then almost become a dragon—Crescendo—finally abandoned every last shred of pride it had left.
—U-um, can’t we just stop here? Hehe.
It laughed awkwardly in human speech.